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Rep. Esty Right To Return NU Contributions — And Others

U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty talks with Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter after a session on competitiveness at Harvard's Institute of Politics at Harvard in December.
(Cloe Poisson / Hartford Courant / December 13, 2012)

U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty acted wisely last month when she returned $3,500 in campaign contributions from executives and lobbyists for Northeast Utilities, an energy company regulated by her husband, Dan Esty, who is the commissioner of the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

It would also be smart of her to return campaign contributions she has received from those representing other companies in Mr. Esty's regulatory orbit, and to accept no more like them.

Ms. Esty, a first-term House member who is knowledgeable in the energy and environmental fields, has apparently broken no laws or rules in taking the money. But there's no sense in her handing political enemies a club or creating possible doubt about her husband's decisions.

In returning the donations to NU's executives and lobbyists, Ms. Esty's campaign spokesman said she was doing so "in the interest of ending an unnecessary distraction." The distractions and questions of conflict of interest won't end with the return of the NU contributions as long as she has accepted donations from people representing other regulated companies. She'll find it difficult to explain why she returned one set of contributions and not others from the same sector.

The Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based watchdog group, has said the issue — accepting campaign contributions from executives of companies regulated by the candidate's spouse — is worth watching to see if the contributors are "seeking favor" from the regulator. That does not appear to be the case here, at least so far.

Returning the contributions and accepting no more of them will put a crimp in Ms. Esty's fund-raising operation. Such contributions have amounted to at least $30,000 so far, reporting by The Courant's Jon Lender shows. But the controversy should provoke other parts of her donor base to make up the difference.

Accusations of conflicts would be eliminated if congressional elections were publicly financed, a reform Ms. Esty strongly supports.